Missouri Compromise

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. an act of Congress (1820) by which Missouri was admitted as a Slave State, Maine as a Free State, and slavery was prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′N, except for Missouri.

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Missouri Compromise Cultural  

1. A settlement of a dispute between slave and free states, contained in several laws passed during 1820 and 1821. Northern legislators had tried to prohibit slavery in Missouri, which was then applying for statehood. The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery in territory that later became Kansas and Nebraska. In 1857, in the Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court declared the compromise unconstitutional.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Missouri Compromise

Then came the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which struck down the Missouri Compromise and denied Congress the right to prohibit slavery in the nation’s territories.

From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2024

But the issue was supposedly resolved with the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2023

Going one step further, the court ruled that the Missouri Compromise — an 1820 legislative agreement that sought to limit the expansion of slavery in newly-added states or territories — was unconstitutional.

From Salon ● May 15, 2022

To please the South, he included a provision for popular sovereignty over slavery, which removed the guarantee of free soil provided by the Missouri Compromise.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

The exception occurred in 1819, prompted by the debate then raging over passage of the Missouri Compromise.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

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